Colophon

Here I describe how I made this website.

Typography

Text is set in MD Lórien by Mass-Driver Type. Structured by the work of William Caslon and Johann Michael Fleischmann, among others who were themselves influenced by 1700s Dutch typography, Lórien’s letterforms are buttressed in typographical history, while its distinct and sometimes surprising stylistic flair add freshness. It is what one might call a “transitional” typeface, straddling the old and the new. But I love something that feels at once familiar and fresh—like a well-tailored and well-worn tweed jacket. And like a well-tailored outfit, it looks great without ever looking ostentatious or precious. Finally, it is impeccably and precisely kerned, clearly with a dedicated human touch. This font is served by Fontstand, a cooperative of independent type designers.

Select headings are set in Fraunces by Undercase Type, on commission for Google Fonts. As its name suggests, Fraunces is a love letter to New York City’s history, a celebration of its diversity and contradictions, of tradition and ingenuity, of its downright goofiness. Managing somehow to borrow from a dizzying array of influences, its upright variant reminds me of Cheltenham, Cooper and Souvenir, while its italic variants serve up Didot and Bookman. All this, while infused with modern font tech such as dynamic optical sizing and variable font axes. Here you see this typeface at maximum softness and wonkiness. It is perhaps the only font I have encountered with softness built in.

Code & Writing

This website is coded by hand, paired with the excellent Helix code editor. I don’t minify my source code, which is written with the aim of concision, not obfuscation or maximal space efficiency. As it's not reliant on trackers or JavaScript, it can be viewed efficiently by any device.

I type my writing directly into the editor as HTML. I don't even use spell-check.